The invention relates to an arrangement for rapidly stopping an automatic weapon having an external drive.
Self-driven weapons receive the driving energy for their operative cycle (unlocking, locking and moving the breech block) from the energy which is released by the propellant charge at firing. In contradistinction thereto, automatic weapons which are driven by an external drive use an external source of energy, for example an electric motor.
In case of malfunctioning, such as hangfire (non-ignition or delayed ignition), the breech block of a self-driven weapon remains in the locked condition so that the weapon itself or the personnel manning the weapon are not endangered. In contradistinction thereto, in an automatic weapon having an external drive an automatic safety is not always available in view of the fact that the external drive precisely controls the opening of the breech block even when no energy is supplied by the propellant charge. Therefore it is necessary to provide additional safety features in automatic weapons with external drive in order to use the advantages flowing from the use of such weapons.
There is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,143 an automatic weapon with external drive which uses at least one locking bolt for locking the breech mechanism in the advanced position with respect to the breech casing. This breech bolt is urged elastically towards the trajectory of the breech mechanism.